This Sketch was...

sketch137, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

....drawn only for the sake of drawing big goggles..

Go Ahead...CROP IT! (...just click on the photo...)

sketch136, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Moving back out from portraiture, I need to do more full body shots. I've always thought it ironic that some comic drawing friends of mine (and some pros) can't seem to draw anyone standing still. If the characters not upside down ninja roundhouse kick, they just look awkward. I, on the other hand, usually have motionless down pat. Onward DYNAMISM!

sketch135, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

My subject requested, denied, then demanded my doing an illustration of her...and so I have. (Also...thppbbttt...stupid cropping...)

"Excuse me while I have a Strange Interlude..."

sketch134, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Ok, so a portrait slipped back in there. Having nothing else to be in the mood to draw, I decided to draw Groucho. I felt pretty good about how he turned out. (And before anyone jumps on me for the odd-looking eyebrows and 'stache, for the uninitiated let me let you in on a secret: In the old days, Groucho painted them on.)

On Set...

sketch133, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Looks like I'm slipping back into portraits...but at least I got both hands in there. This was speedily executed to try and bring a little cheer into a *bleh* day...

If It Wasn't for Bad Luck...

sketch132, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

In my continued effort to do more than just portraits, I did a rendition of one of my favorite blues men. The nice thing about the brush is some of the soft shading you can do.

Hey, Check Out That Scared Guy...

sketch131, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Sticking with people but moving away from portraits, I found this interesting physical specimen. Finding a squatting guy's center of gravity is fairly challenging...

A Point...Just Over There...

sketch130, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

After this...no more portraits...for a few entries anyway. I went for a softer touch here, and used the brush to create a soft shade hatching. So I present an Asian man looking off in the distance...much like Cushing did yesterday.

You're Far Too Trusting...

sketch129, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

As I was doing portraits anyway...I broke out the old quills and a jar of ink that I was amazed hadn't dried out. As an old horror movie happened to be on, I decided to reproduce the amazing features of the great Peter Cushing.

A Moment Aside...

sketch128, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I was, until this, trying to figure out how other ways to represent shadows, but saw this woman and couldn't not draw her. The only problem...I'm stuck doing portraits again when the whole point was to try and mix it up a little.

sketch127, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I tried to do another noir-type drawing without slinging on the black...but this time, with better results than the last. It's felt good to be hatching again after all these years...

No Matter Where You Go...

sketch125, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I've tried moving on to a sort of test in noir...but I didn't want to simply start just blacking things out. While I don't know where I was going with this...first it became more Jack Kirby than I wanted as I laid on the ink...then it became like Kirby doing Frank Miller...some sort of hybrid. I'm not sure where it ended up...but there it is...

Still Stuck...

sketch126, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

As just a super quickie after yesterday's post...I did a quick attempt of reproducing a Flash Gordon by Raymond line by line. Not sure why I signed it...although it's definitely not Raymond's.

Klytus...I'm Bored...

sketch124, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

So, I'm still stuck on Alex Raymond as an illustrator. Now, this sketch doesn't look much like Raymond's style, but I'm still trying to capture something about those early comics. So, I scribbled out one of Flash Gordon...and figured that Buster Crabbe would make a good model...after all, he played Flash in the movin' pictures.

Table for Four...

sketch123, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

The other night, I took an old Micron pen and just sketched whatever or whoever was in front of me at Kitchen 24...at 4am...

sketch122, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

A study in micro and macro from one spot: the small flower on the bush beside me...the giant monument to consumerism across from me...

Begin Again...

sketch121, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Having felt bad that my other portrait of my friend here made him look like a ill-tempered comic villain...I've redone him in softer and gentler light...and with a helluva lot more cross-hatching...

The Cold Kiss of Steel...

sketch120, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

Since I'm already making people look evil...well, in this sketching related effort, I've also been trying to capture other people's styles...attempting to expand my horizons so to speak. So I pulled up a picture of Tatsuya Nakadai (a damned fine actor), and tried to do a rendering of him that was similar to old samurai comics...I think I did ok.

Ok, ok, ok...

sketch119, originally uploaded by ryanjebelt.

I had a relapse back into drawing faces...I'm working on it!